It seems one of the easier events for a railway museum to hold is a special weekend in autumn, when the weather is still nice, and the operations for the year have not quite ended. I know that there are several variations on this theme, and thought I would add the topic to the forum so that interesting examples could be posted in order to see what other groups are doing, and how yours might try on new and interesting aspects to your event.

An E-Magazine lists the 10-best fall color train rides as:Mt. Washington Cog Railway: Northeast mountain forest color in wide viewsDurango and Silverton: Rocky Mountains, aspen in color, and the "Peanuts(TM) Pumkin Patch Express."Essex Stream Train: Fall color in the Connecticut River Valley.Napa Wine Train: Grape vines in color and fermenting grapes in the air.Adirondack Scenic Railroad: Fall color train and an evening/sunset beer and wine tasting train.Blue Ridge Scenic Railway: "Fall Leaf Excursion" in the Blue Ridge National ForestCuyahoga Valley Railway: Fall color trains and the "Pumpkin Express" which includes a local farm with a corn maze.The Great Smoky Mountains Railroad also runs the Peaunts train.The Grand Canyon Railway has a pumpkin patch only accessible by train, and crafts, games and seasonal refreshments at the depot.The 5-day excursion on VIA Rail in Canada that was listed is of another class - not a take the kiddies out for the afternoon experience.source: https://www.smartertravel.com/2013/09/21/10-best-fall-foliage-train-rides-in-north-america/

Perhaps the most interestingly named event is "Dozinky Days" in New Prague MN on the Gopher State Railway Museum. In this case, it is mostly just a train ride tagging along to a local event. This small group is gradually improving every year, and I hope the best for them.http://gsrm.org/dozinky_days_2017

There used to be a haunted house experience in a train at the Illinois Railway Museum, but this was discontinued for a variety of reasons. I think there was some some minor damage to equipment by others who were not affiliated with the museum.

There are plenty of park trains which have a halloween/pumpkin train ride, and sometimes this is the main event for the line.

I hope a few more outstanding and interesting examples could be posted here for sharing and discussion.

The Everett Railroad, Holidaysburg, PA hosts two weeekends of steam powered “Pumpkin Patch” trains in October. The train goes from The depot to Kladder, where the children get to go through a pumpkin patch, get a small pumpkin and a decorating kit. These trains are quite successful. This year they are operating pull-pull style on a one hour inerterval with Mogul #11 pulling the train to the pumpkin patch and a diesel on the rear taking the train back to Holidaysburg eliminating the 10 minute delay for a run around move, giving The kiddos more time at the pumpkin patch.

At the Bluegrass Railroad Museum, in Versailles, Kentucky, we're fortunate to have a non-profit group about halfway down our line, the Life Adventure Center. They have several horse programs for disadvantaged children, and programs for disabled veterans. They do this with income from hosting corporate retreats and the like.

In years past, they had a corn maze, and at the beginning of our cooperation with them, we ran a 'Corn Maze Train', earlier in the day. LAC would feed the participants, and let them wander around the maze for a couple of hours, before we picked them up on our regular excursion train. The corn maze wasn't a long term success, so they ended that event.

They built a good, vestibule level platform on our ROW, at the beginning, and it's still in use.

We've ran some 'Picnic Trains' with them, where we delivered passengers to them, for lunch and family games, again picking them up on our regular excursion. These have had low turnout, and I don't recall if we ran any this year.

Most recently, this is maybe the third year of Pumpkin Patch. They grow a few pumpkins in a small garden near the platform, and purchase plenty more wholesale. They also decorated the site. Last year, we had a noticeable increase in ridership for it, especially considering that we weren't emphasizing it any more than our regular excursions. This year, we sold out 5 coaches, on 8 trains total. 5 coaches worth of passengers is likely the extreme maximum for comfort at the Pumpkin Patch. This is the first weekend of Pumpkin Patch, and we've been sold out for all 8 for well over a week.

This partnership has been spectacular for us. We bear the burden of managing a train full of passengers, at the regular ticket fare, while the other group performs all the decorating. We plan to pursue more trains for next year; this year LAC couldn't support additional trains even as late as September.

The East Troy Railroad in East Troy, Wisconsin runs trains to the Elegant Farmer in Mukwonago, where riders can exit the train and go to a pumpkin patch, take a hay ride to pick apples and enjoy a corn maze. The Elegant Farmer calls this time of year the "Autumn Harvest Festival" and it runs from early September to October 22nd. The scenery of the beautiful Wisconsin countryside can be enjoyed on this 10-mile round trip. The Elegant Farmer is a large farm market known for their apple pie baked in a bag. The regular East Troy Railroad trains run Saturdays and Sundays through November 5th.

Visitors take about a 45 minute train ride, then unload at our Display Building that is decorated. There are two entrances: one for really scary stuff and the other for not scary stuff. The really scary stuff is inside the old SD&A business car in the background. Kids get a pumpkin to decorate.

Railroad Museum of New England has operated a Pumpkin Patch train for about 7 years. Train stops at our "patch" for about 15 minutes, and kids choose "their" pumpkin from the patch. This drone view was taken on Sunday October 10, and shows New Haven 2019 stopped with the last train of the day. PP trains operate for 3 weekends in October.

Whippany Railway Museum (NJ) has been doing its "Pumpkin Festival" for the last 17 seasons... all very successful. The event is generally held the first Sunday in October and features a crafts fair, farm tractor display, Fall produce vendors and a pumpkin patch where families can pick out their pumpkins and costumed characters. Train rides are a part of the event and are always sold out well in advance.

For 2017 the Museum partnered with the Hanover Township Mayor's Wellness Program and featured an "All Aboard For Wellness, Fitness & Fun !" event. Trains ran to Hanover's Central Park where passengers had the option of joining the various activities put on and co-sponsored by Bayer, Wegmans, the New York Red Bulls, and the Whippanong Library.

To end the Museum's 2017 season there will be a series of "Halloween Express" trains where passengers are encouraged to come in costume. These will be the first Halloween trains at Whippany in many years.

The Three Rivers Rambler in Knoxville, TN is starting a re-vamped Halloween train this year. The model is essentially that of your typical Christmas train--a narrated Halloween story (written for the train by one of the managers.. she also wrote the Christmas story used on those trains) is played over the speakers while the train goes along. This is mixed with Halloween decorations on the train and in the depot and kids are encouraged to wear their costumes.

This is the first year for these trains and it will be interesting to see how they perform. Southern Railway #154 will be the head-end power on the weekend excursions, with diesel power on some weekday evening runs. #154 will likely be wearing either a Southern PS-4 whistle (re-make, not original) or a similarly deep Cotton Belt whistle for a more "spooky" aesthetic than its typical Crosby.

The Baltimore Streetcar Museum's Halloween Streetcar Pumpkin Patch, with pumpkins for the kids to select at the 28th Street Loop (an actual loop from the Balto. streetcar network rebuilt at the Museum's north end):

From the B&O Railroad Museum via Facebook--and this isn't a place "known" for its train rides, especially.......

Quote:

Thursday, October 26 at 10:30am – Join us for Halloween Toddler Time & Costume Parade!

Children enjoy a Halloween story, create a craft, and enjoy a carnival ride of their choice! The fun continues with a costume parade through the B&O’s Roundhouse with Choo Choo Blue, the museum’s mascot, leading the way. Little trick-or-treaters collect special treats along the way!

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